As with all commission work, there are three key factors involved. These are:

what the commissioner would like to receive;

any technical limitations to achieving that; and

budget.

Once these factors have been established, the only limit is the combined imaginations of the commissioner and the goldsmith.

An overseas' visitor to my shop was more interested in the Sterling Silver & Lapis Lazuli Medieval-style ring I was wearing than anything in the display case, so the issue of design was fairly straight-forward. Time, however, was of the essence, so a simplified design was created.

A traditional hollow-tube shank (the band which goes around the finger) would have taken too much time, so a simple 4mm flat band was handcrafted in Sterling Silver (925/1000). A rub-over setting with four claws in Fine Silver (999/1000) was used for the 12mm Lapis Lazuli cabochon. At the commissioner's request, the name of the town (Oamaru) and country (New Zealand) was engraved on the inner band and the ring and the commissioner departed in time to catch his transport for the next stage of his journey.